Hudson Yards Grows Slowly, Apartment by Luxury Apartment

The Hudson Yards mega-project, rising atop rail yards on the Far West Side, can seem a perpetual work in progress. Years after the first groundbreaking at the mixed-use minicity being developed by the Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group, few buildings have opened.

But around the edges of the 28-acre site, apartment buildings are going up. The latest, from Related and Abington Properties, is One Hudson Yards, a 33-story, 178-unit rental at 530 West 30th Street, near 10th Avenue.

Though it may be peripheral, the tower — which glitters with finishes not seen in many condos and boasts a trove of amenities — hardly feels like a side project. And its arrival, brokers say, helps the slow and steady effort to create a neighborhood.

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The lobby at One Hudson Yards, where rental units start at $5,400 a month.CreditKatherine Marks for The New York Times

“It’s a virtuous cycle,” said Hayim Nommaz, an associate broker with the Corcoran Group, who lives in West Chelsea and often works in the area. “You have to build something beautiful, for people to come. And as more and more people come, the neighborhood will become more beautiful.”

Angled to accommodate a bend in the popular High Line, which practically brushes the building, One Hudson Yards seems to have made a stab at blending in with its industrial surroundings. Its facade, by the architecture firm Davis Brody Bond, is lined with red bricks like older warehouses nearby, even as most of the high-rises in the area seem to favor gleaming glass.

If the building’s exterior pays homage to the neighborhood’s manufacturing roots, its interiors, by Andre Kikoski Architect, evoke those of a boutique hotel — especially the lobby. Brazilian quartzite, lighted from behind, covers a wall, while other panels were formed by molten bronze poured over fabric to create swirling patterns. As Mr. Kikoski explained on a recent tour, Related officials asked him to “show us materials we haven’t seen before.”

The building’s one- to four-bedroom units sport 10-foot ceilings, wine refrigerators and washers and dryers. Outside air is pumped into each apartment to keep things fresh when windows are closed, and many kitchens have steam ovens, which some consider to be a better alternative to a microwave, said Benjamin Joseph, an executive vice president at Related. “Health and wellness is a lot of what we are trying to accomplish with this building,” said Mr. Joseph, who has been working on the One Hudson Yards project for 12 years.

Recreational options also seem designed to draw attention. One Hudson Yards offers 19,000 square feet of amenities, inside and out, with most tucked in the bottom of the building. Those downstairs offerings include an 82-foot lap pool; a smaller, high-salinity pool for easy floating; a half-size basketball court; a two-lane bowling alley; and 1980s-issue video games like Ms. Pac-Man.

And down a long hall that passes under the High Line, residents have access to the Abington House, a 33-story, 312-unit rental from the same team behind One Hudson Yards. For $125 a month, tenants can avail themselves of all the amenities at One Hudson Yards and some at the Abington House, including an Equinox gym.

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A view from the roof, looking south along the Hudson River.CreditKatherine Marks for The New York Times

One Hudson Yards, of course, isn’t for bargain hunters. The one-bedroom apartments, which are about 750 square feet, are priced around $5,400 a month, while two-bedrooms, with 1,250 square feet, are about $8,500 a month, according to Related. Leasing began late last month, with move-ins scheduled for the end of this month.

And Related is confident enough about demand that it is not offering the typical freebies, like a month or two of rent, Mr. Joseph said. He declined to share how much it cost Related to build its spare-few-expenses project, though he admitted, “It’s not our cheapest building.”

While the prices at One Hudson Yards may be steep, the deep-pocketed seem to have already expressed a willingness to live in the transitional area, in buildings like the Eugene, an 844-unit spire from Brookfield Property Partners at 435 West 31st Street, which opened this year.

With 55,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, many of which require a monthly fee of $175, the snazzy rental is the most obvious competitor to One Hudson Yards. One-bedrooms there start at $4,825 a month, said Andrew Brent, a Brookfield spokesman, while two-bedrooms start at $8,150, though a couple of months of free rent is now being dangled as an incentive for some leases.

Since March, when the leasing office opened, the building has rented about half of its market-rate apartments, or 320 of 675 units, Mr. Brent said.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page RE9 of the New York edition with the headline: At Hudson Yards, Here Comes the Neighborhood. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe